Flowers for a Rose
by ndtigs
Summary: Rose Weasley hates both Valentine's Day and red roses. But in her sixth year at Hogwarts, something and someone will change her mind.
Rose Weasley gave a deep sigh as she looked at her calendar that morning. It was February 13. The day before Valentines Day. She wasn't upset because she was so unpopular with the boys of Hogwarts that she wouldn't be receiving anything. In fact, she was dreading the day because of how popular she was. Every year, almost all of the boys in her year, and some from other grades tried to win their way into her heart by giving her flowers. Not just any, but red roses! Rose was able to say that she hated two things in life: fireworks, and roses. She had always hated her name, partly because of how the only proper nickname that she could have was "Rosie" which sounded so childish, but also because of her hatred of roses. They just looked cheap, and common to her. And, she was always being associated with them. After a day of classes, Rose went to sleep with a deep sigh.

She was awakened the next morning by her dorm mates. All five of them were primping themselves in front of their respective mirrors, and chatting as they did it.

"Hey, Abela," one of Rose's fellow Ravenclaws, Jade, asked another dorm mate. "Think that Scorpius Malfoy will be asking you out this year?"

"Of course not," the girl answered. "He'll probably be trying to chase after that Weasley bi-" the girl stopped, as she looked over at Rose, realizing that she was awake.

"Oh, good morning Rose," another roommate, Xandra, quickly said, covering up for Abela.

Rose nodded a good morning to them, and jumped out of bed. She took her robes for that day, and ran to the bathroom off of their dorm. Running a comb through her hair, she pulled on the robes. As she tied her tie, she glanced at herself in the mirror. There was no doubt that Rose Weasley was the most beautiful of her cousins, with the possible exception of Victoire. Rose had waist length, curly, red, hair. It wasn't orange, it was really red. Her eyes were a deep blue, and were brought out by the Ravenclaw blue on her robes. Her eyes were surrounded by thick black eyelashes, and although she had a few freckles, she wasn't covered in them like some of her cousins. Rose was an average height, at 5'6", and was skinny, but still had a perfect hourglass figure. She pushed a clip into her hair, and took one last glance at herself in the mirror, before running out of the bathroom. She grabbed her bag from next to her bed, and walked out of the door of her dorm. As she left, she could hear one of her roommates yelling, "Rose! Aren't you going to put on any makeup on?"

Rose rolled her eyes. She naturally put some thought into her appearance, but didn't care for makeup. Some thought that she was prissy or stuck-up, but she simply didn't like it. It made her face feel sticky. She ran down several flights of stairs, and made her way to the Great Hall. Once there, she plopped down next to her Slytherin cousin, Albus. Rose didn't have many friends other than her cousins.

"Hey, Al," Rose greeted him, grabbing a piece of toast.

"Hey," Albus replied, looking gloomily down into his bowl of oatmeal.

"You okay?"

"No. Do you see that girl over there?" he pointed over to the Hufflepuff table, with a sweet smile, and gorgeous curly black hair.

"Yeah. Tovah Jordan? Yep."

"Well, I kind of sent her some flowers..."

"Oh you did Al?! I'm so proud. It's about time that you made the moves on some girl!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Do you think it was okay that I sent her some yellow lilies?"

"Absolutely. She'll love them."

The two cousins continued chatting and eating, when the familiar rush of wings started.

"Here comes the mail," Rose said, in a bored tone. By now, the entire school was eating breakfast, waiting for Valentines mail to come.

A dozen red roses were quickly dropped off in front of Rose, and soon ten more identical bundles were placed in front of her. Just as Rose began to rise, and make her way to her first class, a huge bouquet of acacia blossoms, mixed with fresh daisies was delivered to her by a great eagle owl. She picked it up, and frowned. Not because she was upset, in fact, she was delighted. But she had no clue who it could be from. Rose had the sudden burning desire to ask everyone in the hall if they had sent them to her, but before she could react, McGonagall was yelling at students to get to classes. Rose would have to wait. She ran off to class with her daisy and acacia blossom bouquet, and abandoned the roses.

Because her daisies and acacia blossoms were arranged in such a large bundle, Rose couldn't put them into her bag, and was forced to carry them all day. Thus, the entire school soon found out. A little less than a quarter of the student population had sent her flowers, so naturally many of them were instantly enraged and jealous.

"Who's the lucky man, Weasley?" Aesop Beaton asked her bitterly, as they passed paths in the hallway.

"None of your business, Beaton," Rose answered swiftly. She was certain not to show that she herself didn't know.

At lunch that day, Rose decided to eat lunch with Dominique. Dominique was a year older than Rose, and had had the same boyfriend were almost four years, so Rose was certain that she could get some advice with her.

"Hi, Dom," Rose said, seating herself.

"Hey, Rosie. What's up?" Dom answered. Unlike her French mother, Dominique had grown up in Cornwall, and was fully British.

"You know how I always get, um, red roses from boys in the school?"

"Of course! You're even more popular than my sister was. What about it?"

"Well, this year someone gave me something some _non_ -rose flowers."

"I see them; they're gorgeous."

"What should I do, Dom?"

"About the flowers? Well, water them, and..."

"No, Dom. How should I figure out who gave them to me?" Rose asked, reaching for a sandwich.

"Hmm... I guess you could..."

Dom was suddenly interrupted by the sound of coughing, coming from Rose. Rose coughed again, and then yelled, "Ew! This is disgusting." She pulled out a letter from the middle of the sandwich, and looked at it. Despite having been in the sandwich, the envelope still looked like it had just been bought. Rose tossed the sandwich away, and quickly opened the letter.

" _Dear Rose,"_ She read out loud.

" _I'm so glad that you are enjoying my flowers. If you'd like to meet me, I'll see you at eight on the astronomy tower. From you secret admirer."_ There was another acacia blossom in the bottom of the envelope.

"A secret admirer!" Dom exclaimed.

"Well, that's what these flowers kind of symbolize, right? Secret admiration?" Rose snarkily answered.

"It just sounds so ... so romantic when you say it out loud."

The two girls ended lunch, as they made their ways to their next classes. Dominique went off calmly, but Rose was fidgety for the rest of the day. Who could her "secret admirer" be?

Rose made a checklist on who it could possibly be. So many of the boys in the school had given her flowers with a card attached, so she quickly checked them off. Just as she was getting rid of all of her cousins, she had a sudden sinking feeling. What if the flowers were just from one of her cousins, trying to trick her? The feeling followed her as she continued moving boys on to the list that could not have been the sender of the beautiful bouquet. A voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Ms. Weasley, what's this?" the booming voice of Professor Lu shouted.

"Er... nothing, professor."

"No matter, I'll be taking it," the professor said, as he picked up the paper.

Rose held her breath. Would the professor read the list out loud as she had seen him do for so many other unfortunate students? Lu glanced at the paper, and through it into a nearby fireplace. Rose let out a sigh of relief, and smiled.

"Now, back to the Goblin Rebellions of 1612..." Lu said, talking to the class. Rose frowned again.

She was glad when the class ended, because Lu hadn't stopped her about the list. But she was still confused and curious. She didn't want to risk her position at top of her class again, but still wanted to figure things out. Who could the flowers have been from? She was still holding them, even though she could have dropped them off in her dorm during lunch or a free period.

Finally, at 6:30, Rose was back in the dining hall. Once again, she sat down next to Dominique.

"Dom, I still can't figure out who it is," Rose said to her cousin.

"Well, you will soon, Rosie. But don't get too hyped up about it. They could be from some random little pervert," Dominique said, playing with her food.

"Yeah, I know," Rose sighed. "For a second," she added with a giggle "I thought it might be from, you know, James or Fred as a prank."

Both of the girls giggled.

Before Rose knew it, it was 7:45.

"Merlin!" she exclaimed, looking down at her watch. "Look at the time! I'd better be going."

"Of course," Dom answered with a wink. "Have fun. Tell me what happens."

Rose left the hall with a smile. She had dropped off her bag in her dorm before dinner, but hadn't left her flowers with it. She walked up the many flights of stairs. It wasn't until she reached the bottom of the last flight that she began to get nervous. Even though she was a Ravenclaw, Rose had always had a Gryffindor's bravery, and this was one of the first times that she'd ever felt that pit in her stomach opening up. Nevertheless, she gathered her wits and bouquet, and marched up the final stairs. When she got there, it was so dark, that she couldn't see anything.

"Hello?" Rose called into the emptiness. "Um, 'secret admirer'?"

Suddenly, her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. She opened her mouth to ask again, but she stopped herself when she saw who her admirer was. She was looking into the grey eyes of Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius Malfoy was ... to say the least, possibly the most popular boy in Hogwarts. He was a seventh year, a year older than Rose, and with the most amazing blonde hair that all of the girls in the school constantly gushed over. Malfoy was also the captain of the Slytherin quidditch team, a seeker, and had already been offered spots on many professional teams. Not that people assumed that he would join one, as he was the top of all of his classes, and one of the brightest pupils that Hogwarts had seen since Rose's own mother, Hermione Granger-Weasley. Because of this, Rose was shocked, pleased, and suspicious of the reveal of Malfoy.

She quickly gathered herself together. "Malfoy? Is this some joke?"

Scorpius Malfoy looked genuinely crest-fallen, a change from his normal smirk. "No. I ... "

Rose giggled. "Isn't this silly. Fred! James! Where are you hiding?"

"Rose ... "

"You better not have a camera, boys! Come out right now."

"Rose, this isn't a joke."

Rose looked at Scorpius, surprised. "It isn't?"

"No, Rose. I swear, I really like you."

Rose looked up at him, wordless. "Really?"

"Rose, for a Ravenclaw, you really aren't that bright," he answered, with a chuckle, as he slowly began walking closer to her.

She looked up at him, and he grabbed her hands. He slowly put his head close to hers, and they kissed. Just a Rose began to relax in his arms, she heard fireworks go off. Not the metaphorical kind that they always tell you that you feel when you're kissed, but actual fireworks. Rose absolutely despised fireworks, almost as much as she did roses.

"What the hell!" she yelled into the night, still in Scorpius's arms. "James Potter! Fred Weasley!"

"Rose," Scorpius said to her, laughing. "Calm down."

"I will NOT calm down!" Rose yelled, as she watched her cousins flying the brooms in the night as they continued making fireworks.

"Maybe this will help," he whispered to her, placing another kiss on her lips.

She smiled, and automatically ignored the fireworks. Rose Weasley had finally had a good Valentines Day.

* * *

The End!


End file.
